Last weekend we visited the new jetty at Olivers Hill in Frankston on the Mornington Peninsula. As the sun dropped down towards the horizon the sky exploded in a way that we really didn’t expect. It seems that predicting a colourful sunset in Melbourne is a bit like predicting the outcome of a coin toss. 🙂 These are short exposure shots using my phone camera as I left the “big boy”at home.

In the image above, the glowing red “eyes” and silhouette of a small drone can be seen hovering near the top edge towards the left of frame. The constant buzzing noise from these little buggers can ruin an otherwise tranquil atmosphere, …but hopefully the owner captured some great scenes from up there. 🙂

Grantville is a small coastal town on the east coast of Western Port bay in Victoria, Australia. The jetty at Grantville usually stands in relatively shallow water at high tide, and at low tide it stands proud on a bed of mud. During a “king tide” the water can sometimes cover the walking platform at the end of the jetty as seen here.

Following are a couple of long exposure images taken at sunset during high tide.

Tech stuff for the image below – 157 sec f/18 ISO100 using an ND400 + ND8 filter. This image is available to purchase as a print here at Redbubble and here at Zazzle.

Pictured below – Grantville jetty as the sunset fizzled out.

Tech stuff – 152 secs f/18 using an ND400+ND8 filter. This image is available to purchase as a print here.

If you’re hungry during your visit to Grantville then I highly recommend trying the homemade chunky beef pies at the Grantville Pantry. It’s located directly across the highway from the jetty. Real chunks of steak in a delicious gravy and housed in a beaut puff pastry casing. Great stuff!! 🙂 (…..and NO, I’m not sponsored by them!) 🙂

Pictured below – A selfie from the end of the Grantville jetty at low tide. Mud as far as the eye can see. 🙂 This is a short exposure HDR image.

Eagles Nest is a popular rock formation and beach located on Victoria’s Bass Coast. It’s about half way between Inverloch and Cape Paterson, and it’s well sign posted.

Pictured below, a couple of long exposure images from Eagles Nest on a bright afternoon with patchy cloud. Conditions on the day were very photographically challenging as the sun was diffused by cloud one moment, then it would pop out with all it’s brutal harshness the next moment. This would happen several times during each long exposure causing many of my shots to be blown out. Thankfully not all. 🙂

Technical stuff for both images – 150 sec f/18 iso50 using an ND500 and ND8 filter.

Another sunrise expedition to the groynes at Balnarring Beach on Western Port Bay. This time we visited the straight groynes on the beach near the general store.

The image above was shot just before the sun broke through the clouds on the horizon. It’s a 2 second exposure, slightly smoothing the surface details in the water. This image is available to purchase as a print here.

Pictured above – A short exposure as the sun breaks through the clouds. I liked the way the reflected sun rays were glinting off the waves and the foreground sand. This image is available to buy as a print here.

Pictured above – As the sun rises higher in the sky, one of the groynes becomes beautifully side lit by the warming rays. This is a short exposure (1/20 sec f/18 iso100) shot with the camera way down low almost resting on the sand. This image is available to purchase as a print here.

Pictured above – Friend Jason preparing for his next shot as the sky lights up.

Following are a couple of long exposure images of the SS Speke shipwreck at Kitty Miller Bay on Phillip Island.
The first image was captured using an ND400 and two ND8 filters stacked together to achieve an exposure time of 195 seconds on a bright afternoon. Such a long exposure allows blurring of both the ocean waves and the moving clouds.

The image below is a 13 second exposure. This shorter exposure allows misting of the waves but leaves the moving clouds only slightly blurred.

Pictured below, a 10 second exposure of surf washing over the dark rocks at Kitty Miller Bay.

Below, a 2.5 second exposure of waves crashing onto the beach at Kitty Miller Bay.

Finally, a 0.8 second exposure of a large wave slamming into a rock on Kitty Miller beach.

If you’re new to long exposure photography using dark ND filters then you might like to check out this page for some tips to get you started.

Pictured below, a long exposure image from the Bay of Islands on the back beaches of Sorrento. Access to the Bay of Islands is via Diamond Bay Road, Sorrento. There’s a small car park at the of the road. On arrival at the car park take the walking track to Diamond Bay and branch left at the Bay of Islands sign. It’s an easy short walk to the viewing platform.
Access to the beach is discouraged by Parks Victoria due to erosion on the beach, hence a short climb down is required from the viewing platform if you want a view from sea level.
This image above is available to purchase as a print at my Zazzle and RedBubble sites.

Pictured below – A phone camera shot of a storm brewing over Diamond Bay as viewed from near the viewing platform.

Pictured below – A phone camera shot of the rain rapidly approaching my vantage point. The rain caught up with me before I could make it back to the car. 😦

A selection of images from the beach at the end of the Blowhole Track at Flinders on the lovely Mornington Peninsula.
On the day I was there the wind was so horrendously strong I had to push down hard on the tripod to stop it from vibrating and blurring all of the long exposure shots.

Pictured below – The Journey Home, seagulls at the Tooradin foreshore take off en masse as the day gives way to night.

Below – Corinella Sunset, a series of “God beams” appear from behind a cloud as the sun sets at Corinella pier. These “God beams” are also known as crepuscular rays and are explained at Wikipedia here.

Below – The Living Jetty.
At Corinella a jetty platform disappears below the surface during a king tide.
The local sea birds take advantage of the exposed posts by using them as a safe roost.

Below – The best position for overseeing the activities at the Corinella jetty area.

Amongst the photographic gems that Grantville beach makes available to photographers is a set of 3 rows of short pylons.
No doubt these pylons are the remains of an old jetty but they differentiate themselves from other such sites in a couple of interesting ways. Firstly, it’s unusual to see 3 rows of pylons like this. Most old jetties leave behind only two rows of pylons.
Secondly the pylons are extremely short here, with most of them extending from the muddy base by only a few short inches.

The short stature of these pylons provides photographers with an interesting challenge. At high tide the pylons are invisible as they’re completely submerged by water, and at low tide they’re an awful looking series of posts sitting in mud.
The challenge for the photographer is to arrive at the site during a narrow window of opportunity whilst the tidal transition ideally has all of the pylons surrounded by water around their bases and yet not enough water to make them shorten or disappear below the surface.

Below – “Runway to the Afterlife”
On my first visit to the site I was extremely lucky and caught the tide at just the right height. I wasn’t aware of how elusive these pylons could be until subsequent visits, hoping to catch the pylons in a different light, I haven’t been fortunate enough to arrive at the right time. 😦

Below – “Mortality” an image taken near the pylons on a different evening. The dark brooding sky sets the mood of the image. In the foreground lays a dead jellyfish, stranded by the outgoing tide.

Contrasting views from the beach at Jam Jerrup, Victoria, Australia.
It’s interesting to see how different a location can appear under different light and tidal conditions. This is exactly the reason why I like to return to the same places many times.

Below – “Aspirations” is a minimalistic long exposure image taken at high tide.

Below – “Blunderbuss” is a wider view of the same area taken at low tide with some more drama taking place in the clouds.

I visited Grantville the day after Victoria had been hammered by unusually high rainfall.
Apparently the extreme rainfall was a side effect of cyclone Yasi’s passage across Queensland and into central Australia.
With the worst of the rain over, the day provided some beautiful photographic conditions with the sun filtered through an interesting arrangement of constantly changing storm clouds.

I love the beach down this way. Each time I visit here I discover something new.
Before I discovered photography I would never have guessed that I would find storm water drains interesting. 🙂

Below – “Purge” a storm water drain running into Westernport Bay.
For those who are interested in the technical details, the drain images are constructed using HDR tone mapping techniques. The long exposures were achieved using a combination of ND400 and ND8 filters on the end of the lens to smooth the waves on the water.

Tenby Point is a coastal village located on the shores of Westernport Bay, just a few kilometers east of Corinella, Victoria, Australia.
On this particular photography excursion conditions weren’t ideal. The sun was harsh and high in the sky, and there were no clouds around. Due to these harsh light conditions I chose to make a series of high key images whilst the tide was favorable.

It’s important to know what the tides are doing here from a photographer’s prespective.
I think it’s best here to avoid visiting at low tide unless you’d like images of sticks or trees sitting in mud.
The black and white images in this post were taken with both an ND400 and an ND8 filter attached to the end of the lens to achieve long exposure times in bright sunny conditions. The goal behind using such heavy filtering is to achieve long exposure times in order to blur as much detail as possible from the sky and water.
The result is a more minimalistic image.

Eventually all good things come to those who wait. The afternoon dominated by harsh white light gave way to a pearler of a sunset when some clouds moved across the sky at just the right moment. I drove home from Tenby Point wearing a satisfied grin. 🙂

I visited the town of Beachport just prior to the summer “silly season”. This provided me the with the opportunity to explore the area without the usual crowds of holiday makers cluttering up the splendid beaches.

The town sits on the end of a small cape with one side facing towards the open ocean and the other side facing more towards the mainland providing a relatively safe harbour area and calmer beaches.

Below – Beachport Pier – located on the calmer east side of the cape, is apparently the second longest pier in Australia. You need a cut lunch and a sherpa to trek from one end of the pier to the other. 🙂

Below – The Pool of Siloam at Beachport contains water which is claimed to be seven times saltier than seawater which makes floating really easy. The pool is fed by underground springs.

Below – Back on the rougher ocean side Post Office Rock at Beachport provides some nice wave action.
I lost a pair of runners and socks here to an unexpected wave.